Description: Volume 13 critically probes the significance of worldwide transformations in political and economic systems, asking: are new patterns of liberalization producing fundamental shifts in social, political and economic life? In what ways is agency important for understanding the historical formation and current development of new global and domestic patterns? Among themes examined in six studies are the emergence and autonomy of banking systems in both advanced capitalist and transitional states: how socialist institutions persist and relate to democracy; and the disruptions and opportunities that liberalization has provided to workers. A Scholarly Controversy features a condensed version of Giovanni Arrighi's and Beverly Silver's forthcoming book "Chaos and Governance" with responses from scholars who take different global and domestic perspectives, units of analysis, and time horizons to revisit the volume's earlier themes.
Review Quotes: Ralph Armbruster-Sandoval, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
How do 'we' create a society/world based on social and economic justice... There is, of course, no single answer... The authors in this edited volume understand this issue; nonetheless, they still share a common hope that a more just and egalitarian society can be created. Indeed, that hope and a critical analysis of society can be created. Indeed, that hope and a critical analysis of sociohistorical and contemporary processes are the driving forces behind these essays.
Contemporary Sociology